Strength
by Katsuhito Sage
Summary: What if story:: Every shinobi needs improvement, whether it be physical or mentally. Growing up too quickly has left an emptiness in Sakura, but an assignment to relive what she has lost brings her to realize where the strength of true shinobi lie.
1. Idiot's Mission

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto…it belongs to the wonderful person who created it and brought more entertainment into our lives! Masashi Kishimoto is a wonderful person! …though I can't really say never met the dude ^_^;; 

Author's Note: 

I wrote this a while back…like last year. I finally thought I'd come back to it to sharpen my writing skills…or lack thereof. But still enjoy! 

And onto…the fic! 

****

True Strength

It was another ordinary day in the village of Konoha, the sun was shining and the children were out to play. 

Far into the more secluded parts of the Leaf village, there was a small gathering of homes lined together. A silver haired fellow hopped onto the rooftops of one of the neutral looking houses. Swinging upside down, the intruder slipped into an open window. Less than seconds later, the intruder found himself at kunai point. 

"Oi, SaKURA!" Green eyes glared down into the trespassers visage before softening into a apathetic expression. The weapon in her hands was returned to the pouch belted to her waist. "What do you want Riku?" 

A young man, most likely around her age (or older) with a green vest on and his Leaf Hitai-ate atop his forehead jumped to glomp his friend. His mop of silver hair swooshed with the action, and half-seriously they sparred for a moment. 

Swift on her feet, she glided out of the way easily. Her clothing was plain and dark, covering all of her body and as she lifted a fist to block something shined on her forearm.

A shining leaf plate attached to green cloth. 

"Lord Hokage wants to see ya." He winked playfully, before he was thrown in the air only to burst into a mass of dissipating smoke. With a slight nod of acknowledgement, she vanished too. 

***

Light footsteps echoed against the bare walls of the school hall as a figure treaded softly. Rays of sunlight burst through the consecutively placed windows to make it a sunny walkway on the wood planed floor. 

__

"Your job is to act as a guard for the lives of Uchiha Sasuke and…" 

Reaching the end of the hall, a hand knocked politely then slid the door ajar. 

__

"Uzumaki Naruto…You will be taking on a new identity unfamiliar to your real persona. I am confident with the fact that you are anonymous enough to Konoha that I feel it is not necessary to change your name completely…" 

Green eyes met rows of new faces that were in her age group. Some smiled while others grimaced or glared, a teacher with a unruly ponytail approached the newcomer. 

"Haruharu…Until further notice you will become…"

"Ah…Hello Haruno Sakura. Welcome to our class." 

Petal pink hair framed her pale face, currently holding a frigid expression. Nodding in acknowledgment to her classmates, she spotted in the corner of her eye…

Black, blue, yellow and orange. 

With target in sight, her lips shadowed a smile. 

"_You have been dismissed to begin…I think this will be a turning point for you, take this as a…learning experience_." 

***

O__O….tell me whatcha think of it if ya want. The next chapter will be up as soon as I finish revising it ^_^ jya! 


	2. Meeting the Charges

Disclaimer: Look Back to chapter one

Chapter Two: Meeting the Charges. 

A few days had past, and she still had yet to initiate confrontation towards her charges. 

With her head resting on her palm, green eyes blinked away the drowsiness that was sneaking up. She bit back a yawn as she listened to the teacher demonstrate to the class the art of the doppelganger or also called henge no jutsu. 

Whoop Dee doo. 

Her eyes drooped to peer at her 'class' under long dark lashes. She snorted lightly, what a class! They were either too rambunctious or lacked emotion (although she had met many a ninja whom acted that way) and the fact that some were so entranced with the idea of romance they strayed from the goal of what they were truly at the Academy for. Che…really foolish in her opinion. (AN: …how ironic ne?) 

She closed her eyes in exasperation, remembering the Hokage's words once again. 

"…_since you are taking up the position of an undercover guard, making a show of your talents will be unnecessary in public. You will act the role of an academy student training to become a ninja." Hokage's voice rasped. _

Sakura's head lowered politely, "Sir, if I may ask, why am I taking this role? Couldn't Riku or Seiya have taken on this assignment?." Feeling bold, her eyes lifted to meet his, "I'm sure they would be more…receptive towards a mission of this…caliber." She resisted to snort, otherwise it would look disrespectful. She needed to verbalize her words tactfully, hence the chance of getting out of this mission of bodyguard. 

The wrinkles around his eyes grew as he observed her closely, she still acted childish despite her rank. In a deadpan voice he spoke, "You have the skills and experience for your rank, but what you lack is empathy. _Hatake and Utiina are both busy and do not need this type of experience…do not underestimate your charges. You will see you will hardly have to lift a hand but when the time comes…you will see why you are needed if you do not stray. Those two are going to be future valuable assets to Konoha, we cannot allow harm to come to them. …Do not underestimate the importance of this mission Sakura."_

Green eyes rolled and the petal-haired girl held back what she wanted to say. Instead her lip curled in agitation as her mind spoke spitefully, "Why thanks, don't you make us feel **oh so **valuable…If they can protect themselves then **why** me? They will have a jounin-sensei when they graduate, that is more than enough protection for self-sufficient **ninja**…" she emphasized, showing her distaste for her assignment openly. 

"You need a chance for the childhood you never had…and the lessons taught during that period of transition. This is your time to finally live it. You've been forced to grow up too fast." 

"That's where your wrong old man." she spat vehemently, "The way I am can't be changed, no matter how much you sugar coat it." Shameful of her sharp behavior, she added, "Its reality Hokage sir, not that you don't know what it is. People are meant to grow, fate doesn't have age to account for." 

"You speak words wiser beyond your years but remember the true strength of a shinobi lies within his precious people…I want a report given to me at least twice a month."

"Yes Hokage sir." 

What a bunch of crap…A ninja needs only herself and herself only. Others are to utilize for the completion of the mission, she thought angrily. 

***

Kiba scowled at the new student, causing Akamaru, his pet nindog to bark in agitation also. "Psst. Shino!" Inuzuka nudged the boy beside him. He had a mop of fluffy spikes that looked more like a afro of curls and his eyes were covered with round spectacle sunglasses. Shino Aburame was his name. 

"Hm?" Shino arched a brow. Kiba's nostrils flared and he pointed an elbow to the petal-haired girl snoozing away at her seat. 

"Look at Miss Priss over there, acting like she owns this place the minute she stepped in. I bet she thinks she's too good to give us a show." Shino stole a glance in Haruno's direction and shrugged. It wasn't any of his business. 

"She looks tired." Having much perception wasn't needed to tell a person that…but then again Kiba was never one for acuity. 

"Yea, she _looks_. Girls are deceiving like that." 

She was the only student in class that wasn't standing in a line to perform the Henge no Jutsu. Just who did she think she was? Kiba glared at her even more when a trail of drool was beginning to slip out of the side of her mouth. In the corner of his eye he caught sight of a chalkboard eraser. An evil grin split the sides of his face. Shino turned his attention back to the teacher at Inuzuka's devious chuckle, it was none of his business and he wasn't going to become a part of it. 

The spiky haired boy with face markings grasped the board eraser tightly, he could feel particles of chalk dusting his fingers. It made his grin widen even more. His arm swung. 

*wham!* Dusty chalky smoke rose in an explosion around his target, and Kiba's eyes squinted to get a good look at the results of his joke. When the chalk smoke cleared, his sharp eyes widened at the scene of an empty chair full of chalk dust. 

"INUZUKA KIBA! What did you just do!?" Kiba tensed, oh shit. He turned slowly to a very very mad Iruka. Now, the petal-haired girl was resting her head at a desk just across from where he stood. Kiba twitched. "Iruka-sensei! The new girl thinks she's so great, not having to do Henge! Make her get up and do it, if I have to, then she has to too dammit!" 

A boy in a garish orange wind suit jumped up, "Oi Oi! Who made you the boss of this class if she doesn't want to then she doesn't!" His bright yellow hair of spikes bristled for some unknown reason and his fist clenched threateningly at the boy with the dog. He motioned to continue his tirade but the screech of a chair being pushed back interrupted him. 

"'Be quiet. If it gets you to shut up I'll do it." Stretching her arms in a tired fashion, Sakura made a show of roaring out a yawn before plodding to center of the room. Kiba bristled at the insult, and Akamaru barked loudly. She winked at the boy in orange, which succeeded in shutting him up with a scarlet blush slashing his whiskered cheeks. 

"This is for you dog boy! Henge!" A picture perfect image of Iruka-sensei appeared in a gust of wind.

"Very good Saku…ra." Iruka twitched.

"!" Iruka-Sakura swung his hips and jumped to the side, doing an off rendition of the Macarena. At the end of his/her dance, Iruka-Sakura yawned and 'poof' went Iruka shifting into Sakura. She fell back asleep at her desk once more, oblivious to the laughing audience. 

"HAAAAA! Iruka-senseeeiiii!! Since when did ya learn those moves??!! Whoo!" Naruto pumped his fists in excitement, and readied a stance. "I wanna do that too! Henge!" Immediately, a deformed looking Iruka lay on the floor in shambles. The bulging vein on Iruka's brow burst.

"NARUTO!! 25 LAPS AROUND THE SCHOOL! That's wrong!"

A green eye slipped open. "Now aren't you being a little bit unfair to…" 

"You can join him, no sleeping in class! OUT!" 

Obediently, Sakura slipped out of the classroom, dragging a kicking and screaming Naruto. 

*****

Naruto sulkily walked side by side with the new student. So deep in his depression, he didn't notice that green eyes were watching him closely. 

Clearing her throat, she asked, "So…your Uzumaki Naruto right?" 

The blonde haired boy blinked, a light blush crossing his cheeks. "Yep! That's me! I bet you've heard of me before right?" His eyes wrinkled in remembrance of some of his brilliant jokes. 

"Uh…no not really. I just caught your name a second ago. Why, are you somebody special?" Sakura played clueless, if she was supposed to get close to him, then she should be in acquaintance with him at the least. 

Puffing his chest in pride, Sakura awaited his long-winded lecture. "I plan to become Hokage! I'll surpass Sasuke and then everybody will notice me…and then maybe…" 

__

Blah. Blah….

For the past few days she had been at the academy, she had observed that the students were pathetically slow. Though she had to admit, they showed potential. They were still working on the Henge, she thought superiorly, I mastered it when I was six. The green-eyed kunoichi also noticed that Naruto was sorely behind all the other students in his class. It made her wonder, what potential old man Hokage saw in Naruto. 

On the first day of her 'guise' she had already quickly discerned who Uchiha and Uzumaki were. Uchiha was considered the genius and Uzumaki the dead last. It was sort of ironic that the blonde was considered potentially powerful with his lame attempts at the most basic jutsus. Uchiha was a special case…being that he was the near last of his extinct clan. 

"Naruto…" Sakura interrupted thoughtfully, her finger curled under chin, "Why can't you perform Henge? Is it because you can't? or you don't want to?" 

All of a sudden, the fox-like boy had deflated, losing all his gusto and being left with a hollow moping shell. "I dunno why I can't do it…everybody else can but me…" He wilted like a flower out of the replenishing sun. "I'm just a…"

Green eyes narrowed to slits, "Stop right there."

"eh?" Naruto looked confused.

Crossing arms over chest, the pink-haired girl glared into blue eyes. "Your attitude has to go. Make it take a hike, you hear?" She brought her pointer finger to his nose, he flinched back in fear. Her face was so close to his he could make out the varying shades of green within her eyes. "If you believe you can do it, then you can. C'mon, instead of laps we're gonna practice the Henge."

His blue eyes screwed up into slits, and he scratched the back of his head, "I dunno Sakura-chan Iruka-sensei will probably fry my ass more than he already wants to right now…" His whiskered cheeks warmed when all of a sudden he was held in a strong grip by the front of his jacket. "but…we can try nihihihihihi…" 

Sakura smiled in satisfaction. "Good boy. Now don't tell sensei I have these, I got them from my sister." Well…she didn't full out _lie_ to him, her sister did give them to her. Though that was a pretty while back, since weapons in Ninja Academy were not allowed unless given by the teacher. She raised her hand and kunai slid between her fingers, creating a clawed hand of daggers. The new student smiled scarily and squealed out almost cheerfully, "Now you're going to keep pulling Henges over and over, and every time you get it wrong…" She bared pearly white teeth. 

"You're going to be my target practice." 

Naruto felt a shiver coarse down his spine. This was a new side of the lazy Haruno Sakura. …OH SHIT! 

****

Iruka bowed to Iruka, before he poofed and turned into Hyuga Hinata. She shyly twiddled her fingers and sat back down. 

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH I'M SORRY I'M SORRY!" 

Silence. A questionable look came from Iruka.

"HENGE NOW! AGAIN!" 

"OOWWWW MERCY!" 

"WHAT MERCY? YOU GET NO MERCY IDIOT!" 

Iruka turned to the last person in line: Sasuke Uchiha, heir to the Uchiha clan. The dark haired boy gave a small nod in acknowledgment and performed the seal for henge. 

"Poof!" A picture perfect copy stared back at Iruka. The sensei smiled, "Excellent." 

"AAAAAAIIIIEEEE!!" 

The door burst open to reveal Iruka running into the room, his eyes were wide with fright and he hurriedly ran across the room. Iruka hid behind Iruka, his body quivered behind its original. Walking in with a timid smile, Sakura seated herself in her designated spot. 

Iruka-sensei arched his brow at the quivering copy of himself before going stock still. "Naruto…stand up." 

Iruka-Naruto slowly stood, feeling nervous and excited at the same time. Iruka-sensei noticed that Iruka-Naruto was in horrible condition, his clothes had tears at some ends and he was certain that his hitai-ate was going to fall off at any moment. But other than that, it looked like a carbon copy of him. 

Iruka-sensei smiled. "Perfect Naruto. Good job." 

"Nihihihihihi…" With a poof Naruto beamed as smoke pillared around him, then bounced to his seat. Naruto, in all his happiness, ignored the many scratches and bruises lining his arms and legs. 

Iruka faced the class, "Okay, finally the class has passed the final pretest. Tomorrow, you will perform a compilation of Henge along with weaponry assessment and chakra control. Everybody is dismissed." 

Naruto felt as if the world was finally on his side, the sun was shining for him, it was his day! It was all thanks to Sakura-chan!! His cheeks felt warm once more. The blonde boy spotted the pink-haired girl walking out of the door and burst out all of a sudden. "SAkura-chaaaaan!!!" He darted over to said person.

Before Sakura could turn around, she was glomped from behind in a hug. Her eyes narrowed, she saw silver, "Ri…" It vanished and changed to sunshine blonde. Swiftly, she corrected herself. "Naruto." It vanished and changed to sunshine blonde. She forced her lips to curve up. "Did you want anything?" 

"Erm…d-do." No wrong way to say it, try again! " Sakura-chan want to go out for some ramen? I'll treat!" 

Her brows came together in indecision, "Well…I dunno Naruto…I'm really not…" Sakura's tummy grumbled loudly in protest, causing her to inwardly twitch. Looking into his hopeful blue eyes, she felt an unfamiliar feeling of being lower than dirt. For some reason, she couldn't let him down, she wryly lifted a corner lip, "Sure, why not? It won't kill me."

****

He eats like its going to be his last meal, Sakura thought. But then again…he did live alone. Sakura had researched all information on Naruto, and surprisingly, there wasn't much down. When she looked up Uchiha Sasuke, there was plenty of information despite the fact that he came from a very secretive (and also near extinct) clan. The records of Sasuke's history was almost tragic…almost that is, Sakura thought with a smirk. 

__

Oh boo hoo so what if he was all alone? I was alone too and I turned out fine. 

Sakura frowned, nudging Naruto. 

Naruto slurped the rest of his ramen down, signaling the end of his meal. "Yea?" 

"You will be able to pass examinations next class right? You have to be able to graduate if you want to obtain your goal…" Slyly she looked at him from the corner of her green eye. Uzumaki reminded her of somebody, despite the fact that he was somewhat annoying. "You do want that right? …If you want-"

Twitching Naruto interrupted her by gloating out, "Haha! No, I don't need anymore help! I know what to do, because I am the great Uzumaki Naruto! Nothing keeps me down!" 

The petal-haired girl sighed and nodded. "Hn. Alright." Getting ready to leave, Sakura slapped down a few bills onto the counter. "I've got the bill, you just go train." 

She left, ignoring the wide blue eyes staring into her back.

"YAaaah!" Naruto's rambunctious voice echoed in Haruharu's ears in a way that was so familiar she almost tripped over her own feet. Shaking it off quickly, she hurriedly turned the corner, ignoring the taunting voice in her head. 

She forced her feet to slow down. 

With hands stuck in the pocket depths of her boy-cut shorts, Sakura walked casually down the marketplace street. After having dinner with Naruto, Sakura took her time to walk home when at the last minute she remember something. Botan had asked her to run an errand for her before coming home. Now, she was heading towards the produce shop so she could get groceries for her sister. 

"Jasmine rice…eggs…tofu." That's what Botan wanted, Sakura recalled slowly. Heading over to the dairy products section she spotted a familiar dark figure. He had smooth spiked hair of raven and a pale complexion. His hands were in the pockets of white shorts as he stood in front of a row of tofu packages. It was Uchiha, and he was alone, much like she was at the moment. 

"Uchiha." Haruno Sakura stated.

Turning at the mention of his name, Sasuke tensed abruptly only to relax immediately afterwards. It was the new girl…what's her name. He didn't have the time to remember frivolous names. 

"What are you doing here?" She asked. Sasuke twitched, wasn't it obvious as to why he was there? He was in a grocery store, and at grocery stores you would buy food. Too bad Sasuke wasn't the talkative type, and he didn't feel like explaining himself so he continued with his shopping. 

It was either silken tofu or extra firm. He wasn't sure of what he wanted to eat that night. 

"You should get 'firm.'" The new girl said, again bothering him with her talking. Why did people have to talk so much? If people talked less, there would be a lot less violence, not that Sasuke cared though. He grunted at her in annoyance. 

"Would you move? You're in my way. If your going to stand there getting nothing, then step aside." 

This new girl had some nerve, talking to him like that. He decided not to budge and continued deciding whether to pick silken or extra firm tofu. His dark eyes glanced to and fro from his options. Maybe he would make stir fry for dinner, or would he just make sou--

Sasuke was abruptly pushed both out of the way of the tofu and out of his thoughts. Dark eyes stared befuddled at the girl that dared to bother him and push him all in the same five minutes! Sasuke's mouth opened to spew a few kind expletives but found something shoved into his face aggressively. Grabbing the offending object with both hands he inspected it closely to find it was a package of tofu. The box was labeled: firm. Sasuke looked up to find the pink-haired new girl stuffing packages of tofu into a basket. She looked up to give the Uchiha a good look at green eyes on a pale face. Long bangs of pink hair framed her face, her haircut trailed up quite short towards the back of her head. 

Then she spoke, "If you're going to be indecisive, firm is the way to go. That way if you change your mind, you can still use the tofu properly." The pink-haired girl gave a dry grin then continued her shopping, leaving the him silently gaping in her wake.

Sasuke's brow twitched. His hand clenched. 

Girls were so annoying. 

***

"Hehe. Score." Sakura smirked victoriously as she paid for her items at the counter and grabbed her bags. Starting off towards home with a slow trot, the kunoichi suddenly remembered why she went into the market in the first place before trotting escalated to a full blown chakra-infused dash. 

Botan was returning today. 

"Funners."


End file.
